2015 Orlando City SC season

On November 19, 2013, it was announced that Orlando City would be the next expansion franchise in Major League Soccer, the league's 21st team.[1] The dissolution of C.D. Chivas USA following the 2014 MLS season resulted in Orlando City instead being the league's 20th franchise.

Following the completion of City's final season in USL Pro, the team released all but nine players from its roster. The remaining players, who would form the base of the 2015 roster, included Kaká, who was placed on loan with São Paulo FC in his native Brazil following his signing in June 2014.

On September 24, 2014, Orlando City manager Adrian Heath and New York City FC manager Jason Kreis took part in a draw to determine who would get top priorities in various selection mechanisms, including the 2014 MLS Expansion Draft and the 2015 MLS SuperDraft. Orlando City won the draw, and Adrian Heath selected the top pick in the Expansion Draft first. He would also choose the top pick in the SuperDraft, top selection priority for USL Pro and NASL players (beyond Orlando City's own USL Pro players, which the team had right of first refusal to), and second-to-last (then #20, now #19) in lottery ranking. Orlando City will be #2 in United States men's national soccer team player allocation ranking, #21 (now #20) in player discovery ranking, #21 (now #20) in re-entry draft ranking, and #2 in designated player ranking.[2]

On October 17, 2014, the team broke ground on their new soccer-specific stadium.[3] Due to delays in sales tax subsidies from the Florida Legislature, the team decided to assume stadium financing themselves, and committed to pay back the City of Orlando for the land purchased and any other costs already incurred.[4] Orlando City played the 2015 season, and will play the entire 2016 season, in the remodeled Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium.

For normal regular-season matches in 2015, Orlando City will open the sidelines and ends of the lower bowl only, except for the corners, along with the luxury suites. For the season opener on March 8 against New York City FC, however, the entire stadium was made available for sale. The team announced that the stadium's entire allotment of permanent seating was sold out on March 2.[5] The team made 2,000 standing room only tickets available on March 4,[6] and those sold out within 24 hours.[7]

On November 14, 2014, Orlando City was drawn for the seventh pick in the dispersal draft for Chivas USA players, but chose to pass on their pick.[8][9] Manager Adrian Heath signed a contract extension on November 21, 2014 committing him to the club through to the end of the 2017 MLS season.[10]

Orlando City originally planned to train in late January in Brazil, but eventually cancelled those plans in favor of training in Orlando. They will instead train at Sylvan Lake Park in Sanford.[11][12]

Orlando City opened the 2015 MLS season at the Citrus Bowl against the other expansion team for that season, New York City FC. The match ended in a 1–1 draw after Kaká scored an equalizer in the first minute of second half stoppage time. The attendance of 62,510 was the largest crowd to see a soccer match at the Citrus Bowl, the second-largest attendance ever for an MLS team's inaugural home match,[13] and the ninth-largest crowd in MLS history for a standalone match.

Last updated on August 6, 2015[14]

No.	Nationality	Name	Position(s)	Date of birth (age)	Previous club	Notes
Goalkeepers
22		Tally Hall	GK	(1985-05-12)May 12, 1985 (aged 29)	Houston Dynamo	–
36		Earl Edwards, Jr.	GK	(1992-01-24)January 24, 1992 (aged 23)	UCLA Bruins	–
42		Josh Ford	GK	(1987-11-06)November 6, 1987 (aged 27)	Seattle Sounders FC	–
Defenders
2		Tyler Turner	RB	(1996-03-04)March 4, 1996 (aged 19)	IMG Academy Bradenton	HGP
3		Seb Hines	CB	(1988-05-29)May 29, 1988 (aged 26)	Middlesbrough	Loan in
14		Luke Boden	LB	(1988-11-26)November 26, 1988 (aged 26)	Sheffield Wednesday	–
16		Corey Ashe	LB	(1986-03-14)March 14, 1986 (aged 28)	Houston Dynamo	–
20		Brek Shea	LB/LW	(1990-02-28)February 28, 1990 (aged 25)	Stoke City	–
23		Conor Donovan	CB	(1996-01-08)January 8, 1996 (aged 19)	NC State Wolfpack	GA
27		Rafael Ramos	RB	(1995-01-09)January 9, 1995 (aged 20)	S.L. Benfica U-19	INT
29		Tommy Redding	CB	(1997-01-24)January 24, 1997 (aged 18)	FC America	HGP
44		David Mateos	CB	(1987-04-22)April 22, 1987 (aged 27)	Ferencvárosi TC	INT
78		Aurélien Collin	CB	(1986-03-08)March 8, 1986 (aged 29)	Sporting Kansas City	–
Midfielders
5		Servando Carrasco	MF	(1988-08-13)August 13, 1988 (aged 26)	Sporting Kansas City	–
6		Tony Cascio	LW/RW	(1990-03-28)March 28, 1990 (aged 24)	Colorado Rapids	–
7		Cristian Higuita	AM	(1994-01-14)January 14, 1994 (aged 21)	Deportivo Cali	INT
8		Harrison Heath	CM/DM	(1996-04-16)April 16, 1996 (aged 18)	Norwich City U-18	HGP
10		Kaká (captain)	AM	(1982-04-22)April 22, 1982 (aged 32)	AC Milan	INT, DP
12		Eric Avila	MF	(1987-11-24)November 24, 1987 (aged 27)	Santos Laguna	Loan in
15		Pedro Ribeiro	AM/SS	(1990-06-13)June 13, 1990 (aged 24)	Philadelphia Union	–
17		Darwin Cerén	CM	(1989-12-31)December 31, 1989 (aged 25)	Juventud Independiente	–
18		Kevin Molino	AM/RW	(1990-06-17)June 17, 1990 (aged 24)	Ma Pau SC	–
24		Lewis Neal	LM	(1981-07-14)July 14, 1981 (aged 33)	D.C. United	–
32		Adrian Winter	AM	(1986-07-08)July 8, 1986 (aged 28)	FC Luzern	INT
55		Estrela	DM	(1995-09-22)September 22, 1995 (aged 19)	S.L. Benfica U-19	INT
Forwards
11		Carlos Rivas	FW/LW	(1994-04-15)April 15, 1994 (aged 20)	Deportivo Cali	INT, DP
19		Danny Mwanga	FW	(1991-07-17)July 17, 1991 (aged 23)	Colorado Rapids	–
21		Cyle Larin	FW	(1995-04-17)April 17, 1995 (aged 19)	Connecticut Huskies	GA, INT
25		Adam Bedell	FW	(1991-12-01)December 1, 1991 (aged 23)	Columbus Crew SC	–
26		Sidney Rivera	FW	(1993-11-15)November 15, 1993 (aged 21)	Old Dominion Monarchs	–
35		Bryan Róchez	FW	(1995-01-01)January 1, 1995 (aged 20)	Real España	INT, DP

Per Major League Soccer and club policies, terms of the deals do not get disclosed.

MLS SuperDraft picks

Draft picks are not automatically signed to the team roster. The 2015 draft was held on January 15, 2015. Orlando had five selections.

2015 Orlando City MLS SuperDraft Picks
Round	Selection	Player	Position	College	Status
1	1	Cyle Larin	FW	University of Connecticut	Signed
2	22	Conor Donovan	DF	North Carolina State University	Signed
	25	Akeil Barrett	FW	University of Akron	Released
3	43	Earl Edwards Jr.	GK	UCLA	Signed
4	63	Sidney Rivera	FW	Old Dominion University	Signed

Transfers in

Date	Name	Pos.	Transferred from	Fee/notes	Ref.
July 1, 2014	Kaká	MF	AC Milan	Free transfer, first designated player	[16][17]
December 8, 2014	Tally Hall	GK	Houston Dynamo	Acquired with Allocation Money, Orlando also received an international slot	[18]
December 8, 2014	Amobi Okugo	DF	Philadelphia Union	Acquired with $100,000 Allocation Money and a 2016 Superdraft pick	[19][20]
December 8, 2014	Aurélien Collin	DF	Sporting Kansas City	Acquired via allocation money and 2014 MLS Expansion Draft pick Jalil Anibaba	[21][22]
December 10, 2014	Donovan Ricketts	GK	Portland Timbers	Expansion Draft
December 10, 2014	Tony Cascio	MF	Colorado Rapids	Expansion Draft
December 10, 2014	Danny Mwanga	FW	Colorado Rapids	Expansion Draft
December 10, 2014	Pedro Ribeiro	MF	Philadelphia Union	Expansion Draft
December 10, 2014	Lewis Neal	MF	D.C. United	Expansion Draft
December 10, 2014	Jairo Arrieta	FW	Columbus Crew	Expansion Draft
December 15, 2014	Bryan Róchez	FW	Real España	Undisclosed fee, designated player	[23]
December 18, 2014	Josh Ford	GK	Seattle Sounders FC	MLS re-entry draft	[24]
December 19, 2014	Brek Shea	MF	Stoke City	Undisclosed fee	[25]
January 5, 2015	Gustavo	DF	Vila Nova	Free agent	[26]
January 26, 2015	Cristian Higuita	MF	Deportivo Cali
January 26, 2015	Carlos Rivas	FW	Deportivo Cali
July 14, 2015	Corey Ashe	LB	Houston Dynamo	Acquired with allocation money and a second-round selection in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft	[27]
July 20, 2015	Servando Carrasco	MF	Sporting Kansas City	Traded for Amobi Okugo	[28]
July 29, 2015	Adrian Winter	MF	FC Luzern		[29]
July 29, 2015	David Mateos	DF	Ferencvárosi TC		[29]
August 6, 2015	Adam Bedell	FW	Columbus Crew SC	Acquired with a second round pick in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft	[30]

Loans in

Pos.	Name	Loaned from	From	Until	Ref.
FW	Martin Paterson	Huddersfield Town	January 26, 2015	August 5, 2015	[31]
DF	Seb Hines	Middlesbrough	February 24, 2015	August 2015	[32]

Transfers out

Date	Name	Pos.	Transferred to	Fee/notes	Ref.
January 14, 2015	Jairo Arrieta	FW	D.C. United	For international slot	[33]
February 12, 2015	Gustavo	DF	Mohun Bagan A.C.	Released from club	[34]
July 20, 2015	Amobi Okugo	MF	Sporting Kansas City	Traded for Servando Carrasco	[28]
July 30, 2015	Donovan Ricketts	GK	LA Galaxy	Traded for a second round pick in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft	[35]
July 31, 2015	Sean St Ledger	DF	Colorado Rapids	Placed on waivers. "Serious breach of club policy" cited as a reason.	[36][37]

Loans out

No.	Pos.	Name	Loaned to	From	Until	Ref.
	MF	Kaká	São Paulo FC	July 1, 2014	December 6, 2014	[16][38][39]
26	FW	Sidney Rivera	Louisville City FC	May 8, 2015	July 23, 2015
42	GK	Josh Ford	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	May 29, 2015	—	[40]
23	MF	Conor Donovan	Pittsburgh Riverhounds	July 25, 2015	July 31, 2015	[41]
26	FW	Sidney Rivera	Pittsburgh Riverhounds	July 30, 2015	—
29	CB	Tommy Redding	Wilmington Hammerheads FC	July 30, 2015	August 7, 2015

Any matches that are not featured in the MLS national television package on either ESPN2, Fox Sports 1 or UniMás will air locally on WOFL FOX 35 or WRBW My65.[42] The commentary team will be Jeff Radcliffe on play-by-play and Kevin Hartman on color commentary, with Holly Bristow as sideline reporter. In addition, most matches not on the MLS national television package will be simulcast on Fox Sports Florida or Sun Sports to fans outside the Orlando market. Some matches will be placed on tape delay to accommodate Tampa Bay Rays and Florida Marlins baseball games.[43]

On the radio, matches will air on WTKS-FM "Real Radio 104.1" in English,[44] with Tom Traxler and Adam Schick providing the call. When City is on a nationally televised match, Jeff Radcliffe will call the match on WTKS with Tom Traxler. Matches will also air on WONQ "La Grande 1030" in Spanish. The Spanish play-by-play announcer is Sergio Ruiz Torres, with color commentary by Israel Heredia. The Spanish radio feed will be used as the SAP Spanish feed on Fox Sports Florida and Sun Sports.[45]

Orlando City does not black out matches not on the MLS national television package on MLS Live, enabling local fans to watch matches live via live stream.[46]

• 2015 in American soccer
• 2015 Major League Soccer season